High voltage circuit breaker with cooling

Abstract

In order to dissipate heat losses from the inner conductor (21), the circuit breaker (20) having an elongated inner conductor (21) and an outer conductor (22) which surrounds the inner conductor (21) like a housing has at least one heat pipe (1) which extends from the inner conductor (21) to the outer conductor (22) and has an insulating hollow body (5) in order to form an electrical insulating gap (7). The heat pipe (1) advantageously has a flexibly deformable section (9). The heat pipe (1) can run in a supporting insulator (24) which supports the inner conductor (21). In addition to a working medium, the heat pipe (1) advantageously also contains an auxiliary gas which results in an enhanced dielectric strength at low temperatures.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priorities under 35 U.S.C. §119 to European Application No. 04405704.0 filed Nov. 16, 2004, designating the U.S., the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The invention relates to the field of circuit breaker technology. It relates to a circuit breaker and to a method for cooling an inner conductor of a circuit breaker as claimed in the precharacterizing clause of the independent patent claims.PRIOR ART[0003]A circuit breaker such as this and a method such as this are known, for example, from EP 1 022 830 A1. In this document, fans are provided for cooling an inner conductor, which is in a housing, of a circuit breaker, by means of which fans a circular flow is produced which flows around the inner conductor. The gas which is circulated in this way absorbs heat losses from the inner conductor and then emits these heat losses to the inner face of the housing. The housing in ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]A circuit breaker whose inner conductor (which can also be referred to as the active part) is cooled can carry higher currents than an uncooled circuit breaker while complying with the temperature limit values specified by the relevant standards. The current carrying capacity of a circuit breaker can thus be increased to a greater extent the more efficiently a cooling apparatus which is provided can dissipate the heat losses which are produced on the inner conductor.

[0031]The inner conductor can advantageously have a plurality of sections which are each provided with at least one heat pipe. Particularly in the case of very long circuit breakers with long inner conductors, very efficient cooling is possible by associating in each case at least one heat pipe with a plurality of sections of the circuit breaker, which are arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction, along the longitudinal extent of the inner conductor.

Problems solved by technology

An arrangement such as this has the disadvantage that it is active, that is to say it must be driven.

A failure, for example of the power supply to the fans, leads to failure of the cooling and can quickly lead to the maximum permissible temperature limit values of the circuit breaker being exceeded.

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